Scandal and referendum defeat leave Meloni weakened ahead of election

 ROME – The centre-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was plunged into further crisis after Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè became the latest politician from her party to quit in the wake of the government’s crushing referendum defeat, in scenes that analysts say could prove damaging ahead of a general election due next year.

 

 The resignations come amid growing dissatisfaction with the ruling coalition and are widely seen as a preclude to an increasingly fraught election campaign. Meloni, who once projected herself as a decisive post-fascist leader, has been left looking weakened by a week of political turbulence. 

 

 Santanchè stepped down after Meloni made an explicit public request, an unusual move that itself underlined the limits of her authority. Under the Italian constitution, prime minister cannot dismiss inidivdiual ministers; they can only pressure them to resign or bring down the entire government. Santanchè and her murky business interests had resisted calls to quit util Meloni took the rare step of publicly asking her to. 

 

 Her exit deepends a political crisis that commentators say has exposed the fragility of the ruling coalition and raised questions about Meloni’s authority over her own ministers. 

 

 In a pointed resignation letter addressed directly to the prime minister, Santanchè made clear she was leaving on Meloni’s instructions rather than her own. “I wanted it to be publicly clear that it was you who asked me to leave this role,” she wrote, “because, as I have always said, I would resign only when faced with your explicit and public request.” 

 

 Italian media reported the letter was drafted with the assistance of Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa. Despite evident bitterness, she closed on a conciliatory note, saying she cared more about “our friendship and the future of our movement” than her ministerial career. 

 

 Santanchè was at pains to distance her resignation from the referendum result and from that of Undersecretary of Justice Andrea Delmastro, who quit earlier this week after allegedly co-founding a company with the daughter of a convicted mafioso. She also insisted she faces no criminal proceedings, pointing out there is “not even a simple indictment” in the redundancy fund case involving her former fashion company Visibilia. Prosecutors have alleged she improperly obtained COVID furlough payments for Visibilla employees who, they claim, continued working through the pandemic. 

 

 Santanchè’s resignation came ahead of a no-confidence motion tabled by the centre-left opposition, which had been due for discussion in parliament next week. Her exit comes amid a broader reckoning within the coalition following the defeat of Justice Minister Carlo Nordio’s judicial reform package. Unlike Santanchè, Nordio offered his resignation immediately after the vote, but Meloni reaffirmed her confidence in him. 

 

 Applause broke out in the lower house of parliament after news of the resignation. The main opposition Democratic Party welcomed it but said it should have come much sooner. Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte went further, calling the government “tottering” and Meloni “weak”. 

 

 Giovanni Malagò, former head of the Italian Olympic Committee, has been mentioned as a possible replacement at the tourism ministry. In the interim, Meloni has taken on the tourism portfolio herself, vowing that the government will press on regardless of the resignations and the referendum defeat. Meloni now faces a choice between a cautious approach to stabilising her coalition or a more ambitious relaunch, with analysts warning that the referendum result has hardened into a broader judgement on her government’s credibility. 

 

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